The public will get its first glimpse of the new-look Broward County School Board on Tuesday morning, with four new members appointed by the governor. It was dramatic when Gov. Ron DeSantis sacked four sitting school board members Friday afternoon, and the shockwaves are still reverberating.
Kevin Tynan, who served as a pinch-hit member of the School Board 11 years ago when a board member was arrested, is back for another round. He is one of the four men appointed by the governor and says security will be his top focus.
“You know what’s the most important thing the school board does for us? It keeps our kids safe, during the day, and that’s gotta be our number one priority, it’s great that you educate them at a high level but if you don’t return ‘em home at night in one piece, we’ve failed,” Tynan said.
After the statewide grand jury report recommended that the governor suspend four board members, DeSantis replaced them with four men. School boards are non-partisan, but Laurie Rich-Levinson, Patricia Good, Donna Korn and Anne Murray are all Democrats. Their replacements are each Republicans. Board member Lori Alhadeff is giving her new colleagues the benefit of the doubt.
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“I think they have the best intentions for the students of BCPS, to make a direct impact in that short period of time that they have on there,” Alhadeff said.
Alhadeff Monday endorsed Dr. Allen Zeman in his runoff race against Korn.
“I think the grand jury report says enough,” Alhadeff said.
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The grand jury did not indict anyone, but in recommending the governor remove the board members who supported the previous superintendent, Robert Runcie, the report threw a grenade into school board politics. Korn thinks it will work in her favor.
“Everyone now can actually see it, and by them being able to see it, they can actually see that it really is a political document,” Korn said.
“She’s betting on apathy and ignorance,” Zeman said at a news conference, “that in three months, most voters will forget what she’s done.”
Zeman is also playing another card, telling voters if Korn wins the runoff, the governor will remove her again.
“We need to restore local control of our school board and not have a school board controlled by Ron DeSantis, enough is enough,” Zeman said.
“I look forward to the voters really, truly, looking at the merits of my record and being able to say yes, she has stood up for us, she has put education over politics over and over again,” Korn said.
Korn points out that after DeSantis suspended former Broward County Sheriff Scott Israel, he pledged to let Israel serve again if he won the upcoming election that year. She believes he would do the same thing this year if she beats Zeman in November.
